A SURVEY OF THE PRACTICE OF VITAMIN A+D OR MULTI-VITAMIN AND IRON SUPPLEMENTATION IN INFANTS AMONG MOTHERS ATTENDING PRIMARY HEALTH CARE CENTERS, YASUJ AND ITS OUTSKIRTS, 2017

Background and Aim: Iron, vitamin A and D deficiency are common nutritional problems in Iranian infants. There are national programs announced by Iranian ministry of health that these micronutrients must be supplemented in Iranian infants. Thus, we surveyed the practice of vitamin A+D or multi-vitamin and iron supplementation in infants among mothers attending primary health care centers in Yasuj and its outskirts in 2017.Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 313 mothers who had infants between 6 to 24 months of age were selected by non-probability convenient sampling. We used a self-constructed reliable and valid questionnaire. The most common answer for questions were reported in percentage. For data analysis, descriptive statistics including means, standard deviations, cross tables were used by SPSS 23.Results: The mean ± SD for infants’ age was 14.3 ± 5.0 months. 85.9% of mothers had started giving vitamin A+D or multi-vitamin supplements to their baby since 3 to 5 days postpartum and 20.8% of mothers had quitted giving the supplements to their child before the time of participating in this study. 88.2%% of mothers had started giving iron supplement to their baby since 6 months postpartum and 22.7% of mothers had quitted giving the supplement to their child before the time of participation in this study.Conclusion: Around 15% of mothers do not start vitamin A+D or iron supplementation of their infants at proper time. Moreover, about 20% of mothers do not continue vitamin A+D or iron supplementation of their infants up to 24 months

کلیدواژه ها:

Infant supplements ، Iron ، Vitamin A+D ، Multi-vitamin